Film adaptation of Roger Pulvers’ novel ‘Star Sand’ officially released at multiple cities across Japan to critical acclaim

Tokyo, Japan

Film adaptation of Roger Pulvers’ novel ‘Star Sand’ officially released at multiple cities across Japan to critical acclaim

August 23, 2017 by Koji Chikatani

Roger Pulvers on stage at Eurolive Shibuya, an art-house cinema located in one of Tokyo’s most fashionable districts, with some of the film’s actors during a special viewing and talk about the film in August. Image: Red Circle Authors Limited.

Following the highly successful official world premiere of Star Sand in April at the Okinawa International Movie Festival, the film adaptation of Red Circle author Roger Pulvers’ novel, has gone on general release across Japan at multiple locations including Tokyo, Yokohama, Okinawa, Osaka, Nagoya and Beppu.

The film, which stars Lisa Oda and Shinnosuke Mitsushima, is not just based on Pulvers’ book, which has been successfully published in Japanese, English and French, the film’s screenplay was also written by Pulvers, and the release of the film marks his debut as a director of a full-length feature film.

The film is currently being shown at Jack & Betty Cinemas in Yokohama and Theatre Donuts Okinawa in Okinawa City until mid-September.

Following excellent reviews, significant media coverage in Japan, and good initial audience feedback the film’s distributor has received a flurry of requests from cinemas across Japan for the film.

According to the Star Sand Team, this has very encouragingly led to scheduled and confirmed showing at cinemas in Osaka and other major Japanese cities for later this year.

The original novel was published in Japanese as Hoshizuna Monogatari by Kodansha, Japan’s largest publisher in 2015, and subsequently in English in 2016 and French this spring

The film’s opening four minutes can be viewed here and more information on the film’s plot and actors is available in English on the film’s official website.

About Red Circle:

Red Circle Authors Limited is a specialist publishing and communications company that conducts bespoke projects on behalf of a carefully selected and curated group of leading Japanese authors. Red Circle showcases Japan’s best creative writing. For more information on Red Circle, Japanese literature, and Red Circle authors please visit: www.redcircleauthors.com.

About Roger Pulvers:

Roger Pulvers is an author, playwright, theatre director, and translator. He has published more than 50 books in Japanese and English, including novels, essays, plays, and poetry. Helping make Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, and befriending David Bowie brought him back to Japan and inspired him to become the award-winning and prolific author, playwright, film director he is today. His recent novel, Hoshizuna Monogatari (Star Sand), which he wrote in Japanese, was published by Kodansha, Japan’s largest publisher, in 2015 and subsequently in English and French in 2016 and 2017 respectively. It was released as a film, directed by him, in 2017.